New member! hiems over tie rods??

[1967D100]

Hello all!! Just traded my 95 bmw for a 1967 d100 short bed 2wd swepty!! One of my favorite body styles

Ive been reading thru PAGES of info on here and have gottan alot of ideas and found tons of good info! my truck was lowered by the PO, dearched springs.. not how i would have done it, but until have the money to do it right it will be fine. It rides decent minus the fact my front shocks are shot .

Mainly i need to rebuild all the steering components.. needs tie rods, drag link, kingpins could definilty use a steering stabilizer too. I was wondering.. could i build my own center link with hiem joints?? It seems like it would be stronger and the stock center link seems quite weak....

Also i need a short pitman arm... who sells these? or are there other trucks i could get it from?

Ill post some pics of the truck tomarrow

Thanks
Jason

[digdoug]

Jason,

The pitman arm from a 61-71 W100/200 is a bit shorter than yours at 6 3/8" between hole centers. I have a couple left to sell. I also have a good used drag link for a D100/200. I also have a couple good tie rods from d300s,but we would have to measure and confirm fit on that. You can contact me through the "Private Message" feature on this site if you like.

Doug

[1967D100]

Ill send you a pm about the pitman arm. thanks!

Im still curious about using hiems instead of tie rods? anyone do this or have and opinions as to why or why not use hiem joints??

Thanks
jason

[dodgeboykim]

Ill send you a pm about the pitman arm. thanks!

Im still curious about using hiems instead of tie rods? anyone do this or have and opinions as to why or why not use hiem joints??

Thanks
jason

Best to be looking at the extreme off roading stuff. See how the heim joints work for them.

[EarlKann]

Why are you wanting to do the heims? As Kim said, it's often used in offroad where you want to move the steering up out of harms way and are looking for heavy duty components. IMO to do it right with correct heavy duty heims, miss-alignment spacers, threaded adapters, drilling the arms, etc it would end up costing you a lot more than replacing the tie rod ends. Tractor store linkage heims are not made for on-road steering and that's not something you want to risk a failure at 70mph.

[1967D100]

Well tie rods are pretty cheap, and if i did go the heim route i would used quality greasable ones too. I used to work at a custom offroad shop and did alot of work on rockcrawlers as well as other custom projects. We used heims on quite a few of our projects and ive seen some circle track cars use heims in there steering and suspension.

I notice my steering bar/center link from wheel to wheel has alot of flex IMO, so ive been playing with the idea of building my own and using heim joints instead. I tend to over engineer things just for peace of mind I also need to install a steering damper, my steering is sloppy and likes to wander

On a side note, my front springs/spring bushings are extremely squeeky! Beside buying stock replacements thru rockauto or something, has anyone just used polyurethane bushings instead? More expensive yes, but i had them on my 92 4x4 cummins and they never made a noise.

[gunnyx69]

I've tried to find polyurethane bushings for the front springs. I bought Daystar ones, I think for a w100 and they were a little big. The problem was the old stock bushings have a outer metal sleeve that rusts and bonds to the spring, making it near impossible to remove without using a press.
I wasn't about to remove the whole spring. So I took the Metal inner sleeve that came with the Daystar bushings, and hammered it into some extra shock eye sleeves. And BAM just made my own metal bushings.

[1967D100]

Yeah i talked to a guy today who deals in bushings and suspension, doesnt look like they have any that are a direct fit for my leafs.

But i found so 1992 dodge cummins 4x4 front leaf springs in my storage(just the one main leaf with eyelets) its new and i know i can get bushings for it, plus its the EXACT same length eyelet to eyelet! So when i do my suspension the right way with the springs under the axles ill use that as my main leaf

[dodgeboykim]

The problem was the old stock bushings have a outer metal sleeve that rusts and bonds to the spring, making it near impossible to remove without using a press.

To remove old bushings without a press you heat the spring up to make it really warm but not hot enough to harm the tempering and push out the rubber bushing when it starts to smoke. The sleeve can be hack sawed or taken out with a pointy punch.

[jimmy]

I have friends that change to hiem joints then switched back. They don't last. Even the best of the best can't hold up to water, snow, ice, dirt, sand, deicer.
One guy even made boots to help keep the sand and water out. Still didn't work.

fine for off road, but street driving I wouldn't.

as for the 1992 Cummins springs, as I recall the front spring eye bushing uses a larger shackle bolt.

[1967D100]

I have friends that change to hiem joints then switched back. They don't last. Even the best of the best can't hold up to water, snow, ice, dirt, sand, deicer.
One guy even made boots to help keep the sand and water out. Still didn't work.

fine for off road, but street driving I wouldn't.

as for the 1992 Cummins springs, as I recall the front spring eye bushing uses a larger shackle bolt.

Yeah ive given up on hiems... like everyone said not the most durable or long lasting route to go. The eyes are larger but thats a simple fix, i can have new shackles made and i will also have more bushing options. Im doing my kingpins right now and im thinking about doing my spring under on the front axle at the same time, ill be playing with the front springs tomarrow to see if what extra parts i have will actually work.

Jason